After a series of unideal conference matches, the Case Western Reserve University women’s soccer team made their fifth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, where they beat Skidmore College 4-3 and fell to No. 5-ranked Messiah University 0-1.

During the non-conference regular season, the team saw a lot of success against unranked universities, remaining undefeated in non-conference contests. However, the true test came when facing the other top-ranked UAA schools, including then No. 1-ranked Washington University in St. Louis, No. 7-ranked Carnegie Mellon University, No. 16-ranked New York University and No. 20-ranked Emory University. In conference matches, the Spartans went 1-4-2, so it had come to a shock that the Spartans were able to continue their streak of NCAA tournament appearances.

The Spartans fought tooth and nail in the first round of the NCAA tournament, accumulating a total of 24 shots with 12 on goal. Their commanding offensive line led to an early 2-1 advantage going into half-time. However, after returning from the break, the Thoroughbreds upped their game, converting a penalty kick and scoring on a free kick. The next 14 minutes were intense as both sides fought to make the tie-breaking goal.

With a little over five minutes left in the game and the score tied at 3-3, third-year midfielder Jamie Goldfarb notched the game-winning goal with a header after third-year midfielder/forward Ceci Dapino sent the ball into the box from a free kick.

“I just had to score. I knew I had to do something, because there were high stakes: win or go home,” Goldfarb said in the post-game press conference. “Everyone really wanted that goal. If it wasn’t me, it would have been Abby or Molly.”

In the post-game press conference Head Coach Alyssa Johnson stated, “It was a whirlwind of emotions with everything going on.”

Johnson also commented on how the team’s experience with the competitive UAA conference aided in their win.

“Every single [UAA] game you’re facing an opponent who is good enough to make a run in this tournament. And so every single game for us has an impact that matters. So I think it just adds a little bit more weight that kind of mimics the tournament in a sense, because you know, if you aren’t seizing your moments in that game, you’re losing an opportunity to win,” she said. “Every single team out there is good enough to capitalize on your mistakes. That margin of error has to be really small. And every single team plays a slightly different style too. So we’re used to seeing a lot of different formations, a lot of different styles of play, and so I think that helps us become a lot more adaptable in moments.”

The Spartans continued the following day with Round 2 of the tournament, playing against host and No. 5-ranked team Messiah. This game was another physical game for the Spartans as both teams battled for possession and opportunities to score. The match went scoreless until a heartbreaking goal by Messiah occurring in the last 70 seconds broke the 0-0 tie. The Spartans were unable to find the back of the net before the final whistle.

In the post-game press conference, Johnson commented on the result.

“It’s obviously an emotional result to play your butts off for 90 minutes and have some calls and some things that you feel like should have went your way that didn’t,” she said. “You know, it’s definitely a frustrating one, but I couldn’t be prouder of this team and prouder to be in this moment with this team. They left everything out there today”

Johnson also reflected back upon the season.

“I couldn’t be more grateful to be here, to have the season that we had. I know there were a lot of ups and downs, but I think it made us better as a team. It made us better culture-wise and everything,” she said. “And obviously, I know I said this before, but our conference prepares us for matches like this. I know Messiah has a history of success. And our conference has a history of success as well, so we were battle tested, and we know we can compete with these top teams because we are a top team. Our record might not have shown that this year, but we deserve to be here.”

The Spartans concluded the season with an overall 9-5-5 record, with all five losses coming from teams that made it at least to the round of 32. Other UAA teams still in contention for the championship are WashU, UChicago, Emory and NYU.